OREM — No other faith group is as quick to respond to newspaper coverage as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

That's the experience of Michael Paulson, religion reporter for the Boston Globe, he said Thursday during "Mormonism in the Public Mind," the ninth annual Mormon Studies Conference at Utah Valley University.

Paulson, who is not a Mormon and is in his ninth year covering religion for the Globe, said that rapid response seems to come from the bottom levels up — another unusual trend for churches.

Paulson was the conference's keynote speaker and titled his lecture "Far From Zion: Meeting Mormonism on the Religion Beat."

"I'm not an expert on Mormonism," he stressed, later saying he had almost zero advance knowledge of the LDS Church prior to taking the religion beat. He now has written 51 total stories that mention the church.

He believes it is both Mormons and Muslims who are the most vexed these days by how they are portrayed in the media.

He said the greater Boston area is about 50 percent Catholic and far less than 1 percent Mormon.

"We're having a bit of a Mormon moment in culture these days," he said, referring especially to the construction of the Boston Temple, Proposition 8, HBO's "Big Love" series and Mitt Romney's bid for the U.S. presidency.

He said it's clear many church members are concerned about press coverage of their faith, and besides unusually quick responses to what he writes about the LDS Church, he said he does receive positive e-mails, too.

The church's Boston Temple created a lot of stir during planning and construction from 1995 to 2000, but he said "ultimately the temple opened without incident."

He said the church spent about $660,000 later to buy one unhappy neighbor's property near the temple and that the temple president lives there now.

While Romney's Mormon faith was a minor issue in his campaign for Massachusetts governor, it obviously was a huge deal in his U.S. presidential campaign.

"Mormons are nicer when dealing with reporters," Paulson said, explaining he's never been sworn at or hung up on by a church member.

He also said, "Mormons have incredible internal communication."

Is all this attention to Mormonism a good thing? Paulson said the church simply continues to fascinate.

Paulson was a co-recipient of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for public service and also the 2008 Templeton and Supple Awards, both from the Religion Newswriters Association,

E-MAIL: lynn@desnews.com